Overdue Notices

All materials that have come back to school have been returned. Overdue notices for library materials are coming home today. Please help by returning these as soon as possible. Thanks!

Items coming home

Many items are coming home:

1. Writing folders
2. Supplemental writing journals: there are still some prompts the children could work on over the summer!
3. Student portfolios
4. County library cards/information

Stay tuned in the next few days as more items may be coming home. Remember, if you would like your child to donate their leftover crayons/markers to the Zambia campaign either return the permission form or let me know.

Thanks!

Spirit Day Lunch

A hotdog/veggie dog lunch will be available for purchase on spirit day. A purple form has come home you can send in with your order and money. Please let me know if you have any questions about this. Families are welcome to join us for our lunch that day.

Grant's Farm Pictures

I got some really great pictures from our trip! Thanks for sharing! Here are a few:

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to all the parents that joined us for the field trip yesterday! The kids had a wonderful time! If you attended and have photos to share, send them my way and I can post them. :)

Last Call - Scholastic

There is one more opportunity to order from Scholastic this year. Some of you may want to order books for the summer. If interested, please shop and submit online using our class code: J6zT4
Since  the end of the year is quickly approaching, please submit orders by THIS THURSDAY MAY 5th. :0)

Reading to become experts

The students continue to work on reading various types of non-fiction (books, magazines, websites) to gather information around a topic. Students will be presenting their google presentations next week and teach their classmates. This brings in the speaking and listening component also which is great. The students are working so hard and doing a really nice job creating their presentations.

Students are also doing other non-fiction reading in addition to their research project. Other topics include: families, landforms, gardens, insects, and more.

We continue to work on fiction skills during read-alouds and through discussions.

Organisms

We are well on our way into our organism science unit. I'm sure you've heard about some of the plants and animals we currently have sharing our classroom ;) Students are identifying the needs of living things, comparing plants and animals, and studying habitats. As we go on our field trip tomorrow students will be encouraged to observe the habitats of the various animals they will find at Grant's Farm!

There may be some plants and animals available for students to bring home when we are finished with the unit. I have 4 guppies, some snails, and a terrarium with various plants and insects. If you are interested, e-mail me (first come, first serve) and arrange a time to bring a container to come collected the living things.

Math

We continue to work on geometry concepts in math. Students are naming and identifying plane and 3-D shapes. They are continuing to learn how these shapes can be composed and decomposed.


Here are some specific skills the students are working on:

identify shapes based on their defining attributes.
build shapes with defining attributes.
draw shapes with defining attributes.
sort shapes by their defining attributes.
recognize when an attribute is non-defining.
use two or more 2-D shapes to create new shapes (e.g., put triangles together to make a rhombus or a hexagon).
use two or more 3-D shapes to create new shapes (e.g., combine two right triangular prisms to create a right rectangular prism).
make new shapes from composite shapes.
recognize what shapes are used to make composite shapes.
partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares.
describe equal shares as halves, fourths, or quarters.
use the phrases half of, fourth of, or quarter of.

Writing - Revising

We are working on revision unit. While we take time during each and every writing unit throughout the year to discuss revision, we are honing in on it very closely right now. Students work to self-monitor and revise their writing for grade level appropriate spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, and to add rich exciting details.

In addition to revising their fiction and non-fiction pieces from their folders, they are working on revising their google animal presentations. Revising on the computer is a totally new concept and takes some serious technical skills! The students are revising their presentations for content, punctuation, capitalization, etc. Hopefully they will be ready to present early next week!

Remember, if you would like my to share your child's google presentation with you let me know!

End of the year housekeeping

I can always use help this time of year getting things back in order before summer. If you would like to come in and volunteer in the classroom it would be greatly appreciated. Volunteer tines are 12:50-1:50 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Returning Items

Please help me by returning the GREEN HARDBACK math handbook if you chose to take one in August. Only some parents chose to take a copy at curriculum night.

Please return your child's nightly reading bag as soon as possible.

Word Work

We have completed our work with the weekly spelling patterns with pre and post assessments. Keep the list handy for summer practice if you would like. These first grade spelling patterns will help students be ready for second grade reading and writing in August.

We will not be taking the accountable word assessment at the end of the year because the January scores were so good!! Most children are spelling all first grade accountable words accurately and consistently in their every day writing. It wouldn't hurt to continue to brush up on these over the summer or to take a peak at second grade's list! :)  http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/homepage/aboedeker/file/Accountable%20Words.pdf

Essential Questions

Writing:  Why do writers revise? What do writers think about when they revise? How can working with a partner improve a piece of writing?

Math: How do we describe shapes and objects? How can geometric figures be constructed?

Reading: Why do readers read nonfiction texts? How do readers become experts on topics of personal interest? Why do readers collaborate?

Science: How can you tell if something is living? What do living things need in order to stay alive?
How are plants and animals alike and different?

Last Week of Homework

This is the last week for first grade homework!